Adenovirus has been studied extensively for several decades since its initial description in the early 1950s. Adenovirus is receiving considerable attention in recent years for its potential use as a gene delivery vehicle in basic research, vaccination, and gene therapy protocols. Bovine adenoviruses (BAV) belong to the Mastadenovirus genus of the family Adenoviridae, and are involved in respiratory and enteric infections of calves (Mohanty et al., 1971, Am. J. Vet. Res. vol. 32:1899-1905). Bovine adenovirus type 3 (BAV-3) was first isolated by Darbyshire and coworkers in Britain from the conjunctiva of an apparently health cow (Darbyshire et al., 1965, J. Comp. Patho. Vol. 75:327-330). The complete DNA sequence of the BAV3 genome has been determined (Reddy et al. (1998, J. Virol. Vol. 72:1394-1402); Baxi et al. (1998, Virus Genes Vol. 16:313-316); and Lee et al., (1998, Virus Genes, Vol. 17:99-100)), and transcription maps of early region 1, 3 and 4 (E1, E3, E4), and late regions have been established (Reddy et al. (1999,Virology Vol. 253:299-308); Idamakanti et al. (1999, Virology Vol. 256:351-359); Baxi et al. (199 ,Virology Vol. 261:143-152); and Reddy et al. (1998, J. Virol. Vol. 72:1394-1402)). Replication-defective (Reddy et al. (1999, J. Virol. Vol. 73:9137-9144)) and replication-competent viral vectors (Zakhartchouk et al., 1998,Virology Vol. 250:220-229) have been disclosed. Bovine adenovirus systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,868; 6,001,591; 6,086,890; 6,458,586; and 6,319,716.
There remains a need for improved adenoviral vectors, especially adenoviral vectors for expression of transgenes in mammalian cells, and for the development of effective recombinant adenovirus vectors for use in immunization and expression systems.
All references and patent publications disclosed herein are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.